Bringing Forces Together
by Amelia Lynette Conner
Summary: Lily didn't want to be involved in the war. She didn't want to take part or have anything to do with it. So she didn't. Not at first. It's not like it was all that hard to escape the fighting, so long as she traveled. Her favorite hobby called for it anyway. Join Lily, a novice archer and scholar, as she tries to keep a distance from the triforce bearers, all while studying it. OoT
1. Introduction

The Well in Kakariko was the reason Lily learned how to fight. She was nowhere near good at it, but at least it allowed her to survive down there better than before. She hadn't needed to learn how to fight before she came to Kakariko.

Lily grew up in castle town, her mother a seamstress and her father a soldier in Hyrule castle. Her hardworking mother who could barely put bread on the table alone, and her lazy father who made for a terrible knight, yet put wine in his wife's hands when she asked it. They lived a good life, comfortable in their more than poverty, less than lordship state.

Or rather, they lived comfortably, while their daughter grew restless. Little Lily flower, as soon as she could walk, wanted an adventure. She didn't want to be a hero, or princess like the other children, she just wanted to move. She wanted to move constantly, see new things, meet new people... Her parents thought she'd grow out of it. It was just a phase, she'd enjoy having a quiet life in the city after a while.

Yet after years of exploring, countless nights of sneaking past the gates, feeling the thrill of avoiding the nightly undead, Lily never grew out of it. Her parents didn't realize that she never would until she turned 16. Oh her 16th birthday, she was, as usual, given the chance to ask for one thing, anything, and her father would deliver. She asked for a Horse.

She was gone before the sun rose on the third day. With money saved from deliveries, picking up from the grass, finding rupees in pots around the city, Lily made her way to Kakariko, and she'd lived there since. Not a word from her parents made her wonder how dim witted they were, not realizing where she'd gone. Because really, they were less than a day's ride away.

It has been 5 years without a word to, or from, her parents, and Lily had barely noticed. She was too busy trying to make her way around the terrifying, enlightening sights Kakariko had to offer. She'd already scoured the Graveyard, avoiding Dampé the whole way, found her way inside a few graves - and wasn't that terrifying? Not as much as the Well, she could assure you.

She would never be able to get over walking through walls. Or giant _severed hands_ falling from the ceiling. Or animated corpses that screamed terrifying screams before attempting to _eat_ you. She could _hear the dead_ speaking through the _corpses_ left behind there for Hylia's sake! If there was one thing the Well had taught her, was that hesitating likely meant death.

It was a miracle she was still alive at all.

Now, at 21 years of age, she sat in her small home near the mouth of death mountain, studying and fiddling with a strange purple mirror, an eye staining the tinted glass. It was a strange little device, and she wished it had been somewhere other than the end of the maze that was the bottom of the well. It would have been useful for navigating the place, seeing as it revealed the hidden halls and doorways.

What was the point of hiding something that only appeared to have use in the very place you hid it? While it was a great technique for hiding something extremely valuable... Maybe this would have uses somewhere else? Where though?

Lily would spend the next weeks ahead searching the tombstones, lowering herself into deeply trenched, chambered graves, checking the walls fruitlessly.

_**((Just testing the waters. Fandom hopping right now; entered Zelda yesterday and caved to temptation .))**_


	2. Setting the scene

Hours of searching a large tomb, rolled up pieces of large parchment under her arm and a few blocks of chalk lighter, Lily climbed her way out of one grave and out of the graveyard.

The 'third eye mirror', as she'd started calling the treasure of the well, hadn't shown her much, but there was enough around Kakariko's grave sight that she'd have enough to study for months. Carefully transfered imprints of the walls that had once seemed smooth or rocky, revealed old text and carvings that were somewhat familiar to her already. She'd seen plenty of the old language across Hyrule, and while she didn't know the language by heart yet, the writings wouldn't be hard to translate once she reached her home and perused her books.

If her books were even still intact.

The woman almost dropped her scrolls and stumbled when she finally found her way back to Kakariko village, the scent that she'd been unable to place before finally reaching her delicate nose. Kakariko village was burning.

Her feet ached with the need to flee from what would soon be a slaughter, a onesided war between the rising king's goons, and the villagers of the town. She'd long been able to ignore the conflicts in Hyrule, but now... it seemed to be biting her, and many others in the behind. Very few of the villagers knew how to fight; Lily herself barely able to hold her own from the slowest of adversaries.

As always, Lily listened to her instincts, the overwhelming urge to flee given reign. Fast as her own horse, Lily weaved through the village, hopping fences and avoiding both the civilians and the enemy alike, trying to reach her home before the fires did. She didn't even pause for anything more than to cringe as she caught a glimpse of a man being cornered by the familiar little devils under the Gerudo king's command.

Lily cringed at her home, unceremoniously dumping her materials to throw the door wide open, crying out as a wave of heat hit. Her home appeared to have been set aflame early, likely to help it spread across the entire town, and the small building was already half inflamed, spreading to the other houses and shops nearby.

"Oh, sweet Hylia, guide me..." The woman charged inside, gritting her teeth to ignore the intense heat as she looked for the few books she'd left laying about. Her library would have made the perfect tinder, but it appeared they chose her bed instead, making Lily sigh in relief. As quickly as she could, she pat the little fire on the corner of on the her books on the dining table, and scooped up the pile she'd left there, turning to gauge her time.

Tears pricked at her eyes. Not enough. selecting a few books from her shelf at random, Lily bound back across the house and out her door before her exit became impossible. She clutched at her books, falling to her knees outside of the door, by her equipment.

She was deaf to the cries across town as she mourned the dozens of books she'd lost; all of the precious knowledge burned and unable to be salvaged. She didn't have time to sob even once before a hand and heavy hand fell onto her shoulder. The familiar hot-cold of the solid hand sent a surge of relief through her. The books were lost, but the battle was likely going to be over soon.

And not in Ganondorf's favor.

Eyes turned upwards and met with the soft, common purple eyes of the Gorons, not even blinking at the yellow tipped pink scarf around the bulky figure's neck. Gordia.

"Don't worry, brother. After Kakariko is our mountain, and Darunia will not stand for that." Lily took that to mean that her friend had talked him into ending the threat early. "Sorry about you house, brother."

Lily spared the smallest of smiles to the rock being, glancing out to where the Gorons had started rolling into the fray, quickly turning the tides. They'd been on far better terms in the village since the young blond boy had solved their problem in the caves a year or so ago.

"It'll be okay Gordia." Lily's quiet tones made the Goron frown, but they didn't say a word more was the scarf wearing being rolled into the fray as well. Kakariko would be alright for now, but Lily had a lot of catching up to do. She also needed to find a new home.

-

Dampe was one of those who passed away in the battle. There is a small ceremony for him and the others, but Lily doesn't spare it a thought as she flips through her charred books in a nearly empty tavern. The only thing she wonders is if the graves of the newly deceased would hold as many secrets in the coming years as the others did.

There was little she was able to glean from her translations of the scriptures on the Well and graves walls. Talk of demons and sacred blades. Chosen ones, princesses, all the old fairy tail stuff. Lily wouldn't put it off to the side as children's stories yet though; for it to have been carved so deeply into the walls that she could still find it... no, these weren't fantasies, these were history.

However, the scriptures were broken into pieces, scrambled in ways that it made little sense. But where could the rest of it be? Where would this little third eye mirror reveal more of the history of ancient Hyrule, other than maybe the caves of Death Mountain? Which, with how the ground occasionally rumbled, and the top started to subtly glow, Lily would sooner bite her own tongue off than climb. Hell, she'd sooner visit the desert Ganondorf came from than climb a possibly active volcano!

Lily glanced into a nearby mirror and frown at her still slightly singed and ruffled appearance. She couldn't trust castle town, she wouldn't go to the desert, a huge no to Death Mountain... Perhaps... Perhaps she could try the secret pathways leading to a mystic forest inside the Goron's home? Check the surface of the melody playing woods?

... No. No, she didn't have the nerve to do so. But where else could she go? Her eyes started glittering at the thought of all the places she could go. Maybe she could finally meet the Zora, or perhaps search the plains for something misplaced, Oh! Or maybe she could try... Did she have the guts? Perhaps she could try... the Kokiri forests.

If the evil King had only just reached Kakariko, then the far away woods, untouched by Hylian hands, would yet be pure of his corruption. It was a safe place to go, so long ass he could survive and navigate the forest. She feared the horror stories that held the truth of no one leaving once entering, but...

Well, maybe she could try the fields first.

Smiling uneasily at the plump brunette in the mirror, Lily averted her blue eyes, staring down at the ominous black shape on her papers, gagged teeth on the gaping maw making her shiver. She didn't want to know what she'd gotten herself into, but anything was more safe than waiting for the war to catch up to her again.

_**((Keeping chapters shorter in hopes I actually finish them pfff))**_


	3. Tear of the Third Eye

Hyrule field could be a dangerous place if you didn't know where to go, or if you didn't know your monsters and blade better than yourself. That being said, Lily didn't know her way around monsters, swords, nor the fields themselves very well. Undead at night made sleeping outside impossible unless she stationed herself in a tree, but that didn't mean they'd stop digging themselves up beneath her.

It was up in one of those trees that Lily gave up. It hadn't even been a week yet.

"I can't do this." The murmured, staring past the swell if her wide hips to the ground where skeletons dug themselves up, only to dig back down again when they found nothing to go with her scent. They ignored her nickering horse entirely.

The brunette drew her legs up, leaning against the trunk of the tree. While she thought that, maybe, this was safer than staying where the Gerudo king was trying to take over, it was still too dangerous for her. "I thought I could make it, but..." Perhaps she'd over shot her own limits...

Knowing she couldn't get away while the moon was still high in the sky, Lily pulled a soft blue blanket-like scarf from her bag and did her best to cover herself in the branch, laying against the trunk. The scarf was cheap, and more importantly, cheaper than buying a smaller scarf and a blanket seperately. It didn't cover her legs very well, but what it did cover it kept warm enough for the comfort to lull her to sleep

-

Lily screamed quietly, hushed by sleep, but awake enough to try. There was a young man wrapped in grey and blue cloths, watching her sleep. His red eyes laughed at her, though she remained silent.

She sat, cocooned by her makeshift blanket, and stared doe-eyed at the blond stranger. She'd never seen anything like him before, though the symbol painted into the leather breastplate looked vaguely familiar. He was but a handful of years younger than her, if the smoother state of the skin around his amused bloody eyes was anything to go by. However, there was very little else she could see of his face otherwise, being wrapped in as much grey cloth as the rest of him.

After she recovered from the shock of him crouching on her branch when she woke, a flush rose to her neck and she pursed her lips in embarrassment. "... Hello." Her voicce cracked in the middle of the word that escaped her mouth unpresidented, and the flush rose to a healthy pink on her round face.

The laughter in his eyes escaped out his mouth in a hearty laugh that affirmed her theory of him being younger than her. Possibly 16; only barely an adult in Hyrule. "Well, hello!" She could see his mouth, but the stretch of cloth with his laughter showed his mirth along with the squint in his eyes.

"Is there somebody up there, Sheik?" A much, much younger voice sounded from the ground, and Lily took the chance to avert her abashed face to take a look. There was a young girl, golden locks flowing down her back and a pout on her lips, standing by Lily's tethered horse, gently petting the dark hide. Though her face wasn't hidden like 'Shiek's' was, she was dressed very similarly in light leather armor and cloth strips tied form fittingly. "A Lady!"

Lily deflated a little at the girl's shocked tone. Just because most women outside of the Gerudo and Royal family didn't fight... It wasn't that uncommon for a woman to journey by herself, was it? The brunette suddenly felt a little insecure.

"You're a lady too, remember, childe?" The rich tones of the young man grabbed Lily's attention again, and she studiously avoided looking at him as she unraveled the scarf from herself. "What are you doing out here so early?" The question made her blink back up despite her attempt at resisting.

Blue fabric pooling in her lap, Lily found herself even more red in the face. She could hear the 'You didn't really spend the night out here, right?' in his tone. And it seemed her bashful and slightly ashamed expression was answer enough as he whistled lowly through the headpiece. "Mind lending some of that courage to the child? She wouldn't budge this morning until the sun rose, haha~"

It came across as strange for someone dressed as he was to sound so carefree, especially with the doom slowly spreading across Hyrule. But it was certainly welcome. "I was plenty scared; I'm not sure I have any courage to spare..." A short depreciating laugh came through, a sad immitation of the joyful one he just made.

"That just makes you all the more courageous." The serious tone of his voice made her head snap upwards, incredulity painting her face. He chuckled again, amused. "Courage isn't an absense of fear; it's the ability to face the fear, my dear."

She watched, blank faced, as he turned and dropped from the tree branch, business apparently done. The man and young child waved at her, and she stared dumbly as they unceremoniously walked away, in the general direction of Kakariko village. But that walk would take days on foot...

"H-hey! The name's Lily!" The woman called after them, before scrambling down the tree, nowhere near as graceful as Sheik just jumping down like a lazy cat. When her feet touched the ground, Lily stared at where she last saw them, only a few meters away on the grassy flatland, only to find the landscape devoid of sentient life. They were gone; dissappeared into thin air.

Lily fidgeted next to her horse, wondering what she should do now. Remembering the young man's words, Lily's hands rose to clasp over her nervous heart, before she turned her gaze to the woods nearby. Courage was facing your fears, huh?

... Maybe the Kokiri Woods didn't need to be as scary as she made them out to be...

Untethering her steed, and petting his long neck, Lily mounted her horse and trotted to the forest entrance. She wouldn't be able to bring him with her, but she knew her stallion would wait for her. She'd bring her bow of course, and her rations, and the scarf, and... and by the goddess was she scared.

She had no idea what she would find inside these woods.

**_((I will never believe that impa trained Zelda alone. I also don't want to face the possablilty of a group like the Sheikah dying out. I love them so;; Prepare for timeskip headcannons))_**


	4. Giggling Guide

She'd been staring at the hollow upturned tree trunk for hours now, terrible scenarios running through her mind. On some level she knew she was just stalling. It didn't stop her from shivering as what still reminded her of reanimated corpses came to mind. The skeletons in the field were a little easier for her to handle, without the rotting flesh and lacking a more humanoid appearance.

What if all the people lost to these woods were in that corpse-like state? It made a shiver roll through her spine and her knees would have buckled if she wasn't still on her horse.

Slowly, blood rushing in her ears, Lily slid off of the dark steed, patting his neck before striding forward until her toes met with the edge of the tree's bark. She didn't want to be a coward. If facing you fear was courage, then she could acknowledge there was a potential for it in quite a lot of the things she avoided. Lily thought back to Kakariko and all the people she left to burn in favor of her books.

The woman grimaced, but knew she wouldn't do any differently at any point in her life. However, instead of continuing to pursue knowledge there, she'd fled in the face of Ganondorf's minions. Gordia came to the forefront of her mind and Lily's back straightened. For her brave Goron friend then.

They say the first step is the hardest, and Lily could find truth in that as she stepped up into the make-shift tunnel. The walls were as smooth and uneven as you would thing a hollowed tree would be, and everything quickly went dark as she moved further down.

Lily paused in the pitch black log. She could just turn around and pretend she hadn't even tried. Or pretend she did and come up with some story of the forest spitting her out. It's not like she had many to tell about it, no one would know.

Red eyes flashed through her mind, bright despite the war's carnage. She'd only known him for 10 minutes, but the thought of those ruby reds spurred her forward. If a younger, slight male and his daughter could have the courage to venture in the direction of the violence, she could certainly go the other way without fear.

Weak legs moved, carrying her at a stagger inside the woods. It was warm. Warm and the air was humid, but the trees didn't make for a claustrophobic feeling. It was actually... It was beautiful beyond the entrance. Once the darkness had filtered away, all Lily could see was the beauty of the forest, surrounded by life and warmth rather than death and the cold that seeped from the nearby home of the Zoras.

She almost wondered it no one ever escaped for the simple desire to never leave. If she wasn't there for the sake of furthering her research, Lily wouldn't put it past herself to never leave.

Setting foot on the rope and wood bridge, the brunette was surprised by how steady it felt beneath her. It felt like there had been a constant upkeep of the bridge for it to be so well made. Another step didn't betray the initial steadiness, and soon Lily was across the bridge and moving through the next log.

Maybe it was all myth? Was there nothing to actually worry about?

As she emerged from the other side of the Log, her curious face dropped as she froze at the sight before her. Hadn't she just... seen this bridge? Dread filled her stomach. Was this why so many people got lost in here? Some sort of magic that could tell the difference between people who lived there and intruders?

Yet again, Lily's legs went weak, but without her horse beneath her, she collapsed to the ground, eyes wide as panic grasped her heart. She was going to die slowly of starvation here because some pretty voiced, able bodied young male filled her with an uncommon courage. She could hit herself for being so stupid.

Taking that ragged blue scarf from her bag, Lily wrapped it around her shoulders for comfort, tying a small knot at her neck on the second loop around. It hung heavily over the faded, dull blue of her slightly oversized shirt, and she crossed her arms under the fabric, burying her face in the thick collar it made. She couldn't believe she gave up hope so easily... but really, what was there she could do?

She didn't want to try and go back; she didn't want to tear her own mind apart trying to force the loop to end. She was too frightened of seeing the bridge a third time to go forward, so where else was there-

Childish giggling met her ears, making her eyes rise from the ground. Surely the was her immagination? There's no way a child would be in a forest like this, right?

Just as the silence reached a length where she'd convinced herself she heard nothing, another giggle came from the woods, closer, in the opposite direction. But there was one thing they both had in common. They both came from below. Beneath the repeating bridge where she'd been too enraptured by the steady wood and well tied ropes to listen.

As quickly as the plump woman could, she stood and all but threw herself at the handholds on the bridge, rocking it slightly as she leaned over the edge, gazing out at the forest floor beneath her feet. How idiotic of her to give up so soon. While she knew she'd probably get lost listening to the laughter, just as she should have known those red eyes would only get her in trouble, Lily looked around herself for a safe way down.

Her only option other than jumping the distance, not recommended, was some vines off to the side, also not recommended. Pursing her lips, the brunette slid her legs between the ropes holding the bridge up, took a deep breath, and pushed off of the platform.

There was a whistling of wind ripping past her ears, making her restrain a scream, before a sickeningly loud 'thump' and numerous snapping noises signaled her landing.

**_((I know what I want to come out of the forest, but I have no idea how to get there. Time to wing it.))_**


	5. Follow the Leader

"Owww..." Atop a pile of leaves and twigs that littered the forest floor, Lily rubbed her sore ankle. She'd landed on it a little oddly before ducking into a roll. Bits of dried leaves clung to her back and stuck through the thin fabric, but she ignored it for now. That slight discomfort meant little with her heel throbbing like it was.

At least she knew it wasn't broken; she would be crying rivers if she had. Still, the area was a little on the red side, and she wouldn't be surprised if it started swelling soon. She's twisted the damn thing. Why on earth was she so impulsive? "So I ask myself every time..." She grumbled under her breath.

Slowly standing, Lily thought of using her bow as a cane so she didn't strain her ankle any more, but dashed the thought. It was a weapon, not a stick. Maybe she could find a branch of somesort nearby.

With no one nearby, Lily didn't have to worry about what little pride she had, and crawled about the floor, looking for a branch for her uses.

The stick lily ended up hauling herself up on was thick and sturdy, if a little awkwardly sized, as she gripped the taller than her staff with two hands. Her ankle thankfully didn't hurt too much, making her wonder if it was just twisted and not sprained. Either way, it stung with ever step.

She didn't walk far, halting directly under the bridge to look around.

In one direction was a familiar stone, which, she realized with a small jolt, held the same symbol the man she'd met had on his chest. That explained why it was familiar. There was little else the woman could see on that end of the clearing, and turning her gaze to the other side, another childish giggle met her ears as she looked at the ladder.

If that wasn't a go ahead, she didn't know what was.

Standing at the foot of the ladder, Lily frowned, trying to figure out how she would climb the thing. Eventually she decided that she'd rather die of disease than hunger, and clamped the branch she held between her teeth, awkwardly hauling herself up on one hopping leg. It made her arms burn lifting her own weight without two feet for support, but she made it to the top without too much trouble, crawling to stable ground after before standing.

Atop the ladder was another of those logs, and Lily loathed to walk through it and find herself back where she started. However, the giggling came to mind again. It couldn't just be guiding her in circles, and she hadn't been here long enough to have gone mad...

Limping forward, Lily feigned confidence as she moved into the small, dark tunnel again. Squeezing her eyes shut the brunette emerged and waited. And waited. There was only silence as she stood there, hope draining the longer she kept her eyes shut.

She shifted and there was a sharp jabbing against her lower back, making her eyes snap open with a slight yelp. She stood with her mouth open, eyes wide, and she stared at the two, upright, flat topped logs, one taller than the other. This wasn't the same room.

It looked like she was making progress. Lily could have deflated with relief; she might not die here, if she was lucky.

There was only one path for her to choose from, but as a giggle from the opposite direction came out, her brow furrowed. After spending so long in Kakariko...

Reaching behind her to relieve her backside of the sharp object that poked her, Lily pulled out the Third Eye that had been thrown askew when her books fumbled in her leap from the bridge. Something nagged at her mind as she looked at the mirror, but she ignored it in favor of holding it up in front of her, and looking around the area.

... She found nothing. Lily's brow furrowed and she lowered the Mirror, flipped it over, and raised it again. Still nothing. No hidden door in the sheer cliffside or anything of importance at all. Surely there was something though? She heard the giggling through that wall of dirt, and it seemed far to obvious for a cursed place like this to only have one route.

Pursing her lips, Lily tucked the Third Eye away again, before limping over the the left, stick bending slightly under her weight. There had to be something here, she thought to herself, trying to pinpoint some sort of anomaly in the surface. Again, she could find nothing. Lily hiked her scarf up her shoulders and ran a hand over the wall, hoping one of her senses would find something.

Only for her hand to fall through the wall and the rest of her to stumble and fall through with a quiet thump and an "Oof!"

Her foot was aching again, but she hardly paid it any mind as she tried to find herself in the surrounding darkness. It was pitch black out here, even if she could see stars above her. After spending so long in the sun, she was blind in what was suddenly a night sky.

It took a long while and a few moments of rapid blinking for her eyes to adjust to the dark forestry around her, three of those log tunnels in any direction she looked. Including, she found as she turned, behind her. With eyes wide in fear, an ominous feeling settling over her, Lily stood and moved to the center of the clearing.

Something odd was going on. Something that wasn't normal, even for this forest. Or, it seemed that way. She doubted the inhabitants of the forest were quite this fearful of intruders; a maze sounded far more probable.

Lily froze at the sound of jingling chains, a bright light coming from the right and she turned to face it, holding the walking stick in front of her like it was a shield. A giggle with an almost echoing quality, light pitched and suddenly barely human sounding, came with the chains, and from the darkness emerged a figure.

A small scarecrow child, walking on it's own two legs and carrying a long pole with a lantern attached by thick, sturdy chains, came from the dark. It stood there, swaying restlessly and twitching from time to time, before bending over, laughing into its tied-straw looking hand, before turning and running back into the log.

Lily swallowed thickly, only just keeping herself from slumping to her knees yet again. She had to follow, didn't she? The woman could only hope the creature didn't lead her to her own death, and after a longing look at the tunnel standing where she'd come in from, Lily followed the scarecrow into the dark.

**_((Had some visitors and couldn't get time to write; I'm amazed it was so easy to come back to. I thought my roll would be over because of it, hahaha))_**


End file.
